The name is Poulter. Ian Poulter.
This could have been very different if Danny Chia was an American and this was the Ryder Cup.
Because the Malaysian local hero is playing in his own country, and because he did not mean to be rude, Ian Poulter thought he’d make his point in the most courteous way possible.
Chia had upped the ante for their singles match on Saturday evening by replying ‘Ian who?’ to a media query about how he felt playing against the Ryder Cup legend.
And after beating him 4&3 in the opening singles, Poulter thought it would be nice to introduce himself to Chia.
“After beating me, he shook my hands and said: ‘My name is Poulter. Ian Poulter’,” said Chia.
The good thing was, both Poulter and Chia saw the funnier side of the situation and had a hearty laugh at the end of their match.
Draw coincidence
An interesting singles match was between India’s Anirban Lahiri and Ireland’s Shane Lowry. Apart from the fact that their surnames are quite similar, they also have similar plans for 2016.
After having a stellar season on the European Tour last year – Lahiri finished 20th on the Race to Dubai and Lowry fifth – both players have decided to give the PGA Tour their full attention this season. Both will be missing the entire Desert Swing and heading off to the US to compete in next week’s Career Builder Challenge in La Quinta.
However, both players are planning to play their respective national opens, and will play the minimum number of events required to keep their European Tour membership.
Also interesting was the battle between the tallest man in the tournament – England’s Chris Wood at 6ft 6in – and the shortest – India’s SSP Chawrasia at 5ft 5in. Wood partnered Lee Westwood as they beat Chawrasia and Kiradech Aphibarnrat, but the Asian star avenged it with a win against Wood and Kristoffer Broberg on Saturady. It did not end there – Chawrasia and Wood also faced each other in the singles.
Katayama’s warm-up
A couple of days ago, we reported how Japanese star Shingo Katayama stands out of the crowd in professional golf because of his penchant for Stetson cowboy hats and the continued use of belly putter despite most players giving up on them following the anchoring ban this year.
Now there is more. Katayama also has a warm-up routine on the range that is almost as unique as Miguel Angel Jimenez’s.
The right-handed world No58 starts his day hitting about 20 balls in quick succession off a high tee. Nothing unusual in that, except for the fact that Katayama hits them left-handed. That is his own way to lumber up the whole body.